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HappySqurriel on 25 November 2011
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richardhutnik said:
HappySqurriel said:
badgenome said:
Kasz216 said:
badgenome said:
richardhutnik said:

As far as getting "ethical consumerism" whatever that is (does it mean that you wait politely in line as you max out your credit card to buy made in China junk you don't need?)

No.


The only problem with ethical consumerism is that it costs you money and status, because well for one, an ethical consumer would never buy anything from Apple.

Very true, and the fact that Apple is so beloved in OWS circles speaks volumes.

The reason that the Nanny State is such a popular idea is that it gives people the ability to believe that they're making a difference without ever having to know, think about, understand or do anything ... No matter how much more effective it will be, spending the minimal amount of effort to look into the products they're buying to see if the companies that produce them share their values is beyond most of the OWS crowd.

Their support from Apple isn't even the thing that bothers me most about protestors like the OWS crowd ...

Brand name designer clothing tends to be produced in sweat-shops where people work in deplorable conditions for abysmal wages, and these sweat-shops (often) have some of the worst environmental practices, all to make the manufacturing costs as low as possible. These clothes are then sold with some of the largest mark-ups of any consumer good and the profits are then used to support a modern form of aristocracy that has a membership based on the most shallow of values and nepotism; and the sale of these clothes are driven by blind consumerism that is fed based on the opinions of corrupt insiders.

Or to put it another way, designer clothing is the purest symbol of everything anti-capitalists hate and you would expect them to reject the industry on principle. What you actually see in most of the protests are a bunch of spoiled rich kids dressed up in the "Young Radical" line of many big designer labels.

Today, youth are not challenged to go and make a brighter future.  They have been fed a line about being good consumers, and getting a good job, settling down, having the house and evermore (just play by the rules and things will work themselves out).  Find peace in owning the best brands.  Get religious devotion to corporate logos.  That is the life fed, but now it is backfiring and the youth are now feeling they had been played by promises not delivered.  Occupy does offer a chance at the big picture, even if on personal level it is missing, and they don't even know what Ad Busters is into.

I am reminded of this music video when discussing this:


I think it is much simpler than that ...

When you look at the Occupy Wall Street protestors (or any major progressive protest for the past 30+ years) you see a common profile emerge. Mostly young white people with a (often advanced) degrees in the humanities, social sciences, or arts who have never worked a "real" job in their life and yet have a remarkable collection of expensive luxury items and have traveled extensively. Essentially, they're the children of upper middle class households and they have lived a sheltered life and been supported by their parents their entire lives.

Their political beliefs, like the Che Guevara shirt and/or Guy Fawkes mask they wear, are a fashion statement not a true expression of any real values they hold. Much like their adoption of one fad after another through their childhood, the causes they support are at attempt to increase social status with their peers and they have no real attachment to the cause itself. In 5 years these political beliefs will be about as much use to these individuals as their "Vote For Pedro" T-Shirt is today.

 

In order to maintain the effort required to act in a way that is consistent with your values and beliefs, you actually have to hold those values and beliefs in high enough regard that you're willing to make sacrifices in order to maintain integrity. These protestors have not been brainwashed to act in a hypocritical way, they're simply shallow posers who get rewarded when they jump from cause to cause by people who are simply unwilling to call them out for what they are.